


Welcome Home

by MorninSpliff



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Enemies to Friends, Foster Care, Homelessness, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Multi, Scars, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-07 09:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21455473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorninSpliff/pseuds/MorninSpliff
Summary: Sasuke grew up in a beautiful mansion isolated in the woods at the edge of a small town, with a long fresh lawn and a gardener and beautiful marble floors in the walkway and a huge warm family. Now, besides the ghosts of his dead parents, the only thing in the decrepit mansion is a run away orphan in a ski mask with self-worth issues hiding from his trashy foster parents.Sasuke gives Naruto one month to get out of his house - and Naruto has one month to convince Sasuke to help him escape town
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally posted on a different account but It;s been transported here
> 
> This fic was partially inspired by Soup's On by OfFansAndFlames that you can read here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3256430
> 
> its a really amazing fic and you should definitely go check it out!

“You guys are pussies.” Sasuke mumbled, slowly, reluctantly, leading the group of high schoolers deeper into the cold and foggy forest.

  
He hadn't intended on bringing them with him into the forest today, he got interrupted by the group on the walk down the one main road that went in and out of their small town. They had been loitering around the quarry throwing rocks at frogs when they saw Sasuke sauntering down the road in the direction of the forest. Every Sunday, Sasuke hiked through his own secret path through the forest to his old house outside of town and visited what once was his. It was pure misfortune that the group and Sasuke should've crossed paths. They threatened to tell Itachi about his visits if he didn't show them the legendary haunted Uchiha mansion, so now he was leading them directly to a place he never wanted to show anyone. Shikamaru walked slightly behind him to his left, Lee to his right. Neji and his cousin, Hinata, who Sasuke didn’t think should have come, were clinging to each other a little off to the right. Sakura and Ino were trailing the furthest behind, nervously holding hands and bickering at the same time.

  
“We’re not!” Came Lee’s shrill reply.

"Sasuke, don't be so mean." Sakura joined in. Sakura knew she was scared, and Ino was trembling. The further they got into the forest the less she wished she had bullied Sasuke into taking them. Coming out here wasn't forbidden, but almost everyone stayed out of the forest because of what had happened at the Uchiha mansion. She can't imagine it would be easy for Sasuke to keep coming back here every weekend, she even dared to feel guilty for going herself.

  
Sasuke snickered, turning on his heels and walking backwards so he could taunt the smallest of their group. “Pussies.”

  
“Sasuke!” Sakura scolded.

Suddenly, from somewhere in front of them, a twig snapped in the distance. They all stopped to listen, Sasuke breaking the horrified silence with a laugh.

“If you guys are going to be that jumpy you should turn back, it’s annoying to have to look after all of you.” He said, continuing forward.

  
“That sounded close.” Shikamaru said. They all cautiously closed the distance between each other, walking lightly as Sasuke continued further and further.

  
“Well we are almost there.” Sasuke said, kicking over a piece of paneling wood that was burnt to a crisp. “And you all must know what people say about our old mansion, don't you?”

  
Another twig snapped somewhere around them, followed by the flapping of birds cawing and fleeing. They all stopped walking, Sasuke included, waiting and listening for something to pounce on them, but other than those two snaps nothing else happened. They were alone.

"They say that more than just ghosts walk these woods, but monsters too, drawn here by a curse." Sasuke said, partially mocking the stories the insensitive towns people spread around about his family.

  
It took a moment for their courage to return enough to start walking again, even though Hinata’s legs were shaking and Lee had his hands balled in fists like he was ready to launch and attack at any moment. The bickering and the chatting stopped then, too, all of them had their ears trained to listen for any other sign of someone following them, although none other came, and soon the fog started to part and reveal more and more burnt wood, piled on splotches of charred ground, fallen trees partially black. The forest floor they walked on became hard, and the leaves piled over a pathway that had been cleared of forest but long cracked and disintegrated. They stopped to take it in. There was a shed to their left, leaning, but not burnt, taken over by time and weather; to their right there was a small house that was partially burnt, now only a wall and a roof leaning into the black skeleton of a tree. The whole area was dotted with burn trees and brown burnt grass, overlaid again and again by vines, bushes, and fallen leaves spread across the sprawling grounds in the midst of the cold fall afternoon.

  
The main event, however, was the mansion, old and white like bones, with small scuffs of black over its sides, blown out windows, and dark peeling vines crawling over its walls. Sasuke approached it first, not hesitating to cross its threshold. After all, it used to be his home.

  
The inside was huge and trashed. Red Graffiti on the floor in the doorway said _Welcome Home_ with arrows pointing up the main staircase that rounded the walls and led to a long balcony with all the once beautiful marble railings broken off and gathered on the cracked floor. Other pieces of graffiti, lines along the marble walls, stars and hands prints on the floors, rang of other similar days Sasuke had come here alone to spend time with the ghosts of his family members that his supposed friends were so terrified of.

  
Friends, who now sheepishly followed in behind him, slowly their fear left them in astonishment and amusement.

  
“I can’t believe you used to live here, Sasuke.” Shikamaru said, his voice echoing through the empty space.

  
“So cool...” Sakura said, swooning, finally letting go of Ino.

  
They split, all going in different directions to explore the house - Sakura And Ino wandered upstairs snickering to each other about wanting to stay and try to win over Sasuke’s heart but being too afraid to leave each other's side. Lee and Shikamaru made their way further down the main hallway past Sasuke, while Neji and Hinata stayed close by.

  
“If you weren’t hanging off me so much I could’ve actually gotten to spend time with Sasuke.” Sakura complained as she and Ino walked cautiously, passing by bedrooms with broken door frames, littered with trash and abandoned furniture.

  
“Me?” Ino responded indignantly, shoving Sakura. “You’re the one who's hanging off me! Gosh, if you weren’t so helpless maybe I'd get to talk to him more.”

  
Sakura stumbled, walking slightly behind Ino as she entered a room, pushing aside a broken door. “I am not helpless, you’re just possessive! I bet you’re just keeping me around to make sure I can’t spend time with Sasuke at all.”

  
Ino looked around the room. It was the last room down this hallway. There were candles on the floor, wax melting into the dust. There were bare footprints in dirty and dust leading away from a mattress laying on the ground, with a hunk of blankets spread out over it, a few pieces of wood as a bedside table with a glass of half drunk water and another candle. 

  
“You’re just waiting until I go home to have Sasuke to yourself!” Sakura bumped into Ino who had stopped to take in the room. “Hey watch it.”

  
Now that Ino thought about it there were candles everywhere, along the floor and down through the hallways. She assumed they were from Sasuke. But there was a bag in the corner of the room, and clothes folded there too that didn’t look like anything Sasuke would wear, and she would know. There were pictures on the wall drawn in crayon and marker of typical things kid's half their age would draw, families and smiling sun's. It was odd.

  
“Do you think Sasuke ever spends the night here?” Ino said, startling Sakura out of her rant.

Sakura came around her side to observe the makeshift bedroom. There was so much trash from fast food restaurant and scraps of what looked like molded banana peels, as if someone was treating this room partially as a dumpster, and there really were candles everywhere, enough that this place would have been very well lit at night.

"I don't think so. His brother would definitely catch him if he didn't come home." Sakura responded, more to herself. Between them a silent 'what if' was established. What if someone else was living here, like a homeless person, without anyone knowing? 

  
Without having to say a single word they both nervously backtracked out of the room. As they made it out into the hallway, a door from one of the rooms they had passed slammed shut on its own. They both jumped and shouted loudly, their shrill voices echoing through the empty halls. Lee was the first to react, running up the stairs towards them shouting that he’ll protect them.

  
“What’s wrong? Are you both ok?” He asked, pretending to be valiant. From downstairs Sasuke, Hinata and Neji appeared below the balcony asking the same questions.

  
“One of the doors closed on its own!” Ino yelled down at them, her voice shaking.

  
“It was probably just the wind.” Sasuke responded, getting irritated. "You guys shouldn't make so much noise."

  
Just as he spoke the sound of someone running barefoot against the marble rang out clear as a bell, but no one appeared from any direction, causing them all to erupt into a litany of shouting, the three upstairs tripping over each other and the stairs so the group could scuffle closer together by the front door. After a moment their wining and fearful moaning died down to sped up heart beats, all back to back, in silence waiting for any other sound. They waited and waited.

  
“What the heck is going on?” Shikamaru came out of the main hallway looking confused, his reappearance causing another round of shouts.

  
“We heard something!” Ino hissed, shushing him.

  
Again, expectant silence. Then, something fell over somewhere in the abandoned house, followed by more scuffling. All the children huddled close to each other, eyes scanning madly for any sign of movement, like scared cats waiting for the other shoe to drop they all hesitated to take off running, wanting one last confirmation before they could validate fleeing and no doubt getting teased for it later.

  
And they got it, more than they wanted or expected. A loud bang, followed by a snorting laugh. From up on the balcony, sitting with legs swinging over the edge and a large baseball bat with nails into the end was a boy, about their age, in summer shorts and a huge reflective orange jacket over a black hoodie, but worst of all, a ratty ski mask covering his face. An insane smile split the black mask and almost ghostly blue eyes lit up when everyone in the group turned to look up at him in horror. The lanky kid scooted over the edge and let himself dangle by one hand for a second before letting go, landing on his feet, stumbling and falling, then recollecting himself and picking up his bat. Everyone watched him, wide eyed and terrified, cowering behind a startled Sasuke.

  
“Boo.”

  
They screamed, and everyone but Sasuke took off running out of the front door, abandoning everything and fleeing the way they came.

  
“I said: boo!” The boy repeated, shrugging his shoulders and waving his bat like he expected a more intense reaction. Sasuke did take a cautious step back, a little shuffle, trying not to look as startled as he was.

  
Sasuke swallowed his fear. “What are you doing in my house?”

  
The boy laughed. “Your house? Hah! this place is totally abandoned.”

  
The boy got closer, dragging his bat behind him, getting in Sasuke’s face. Some of the boy's gross blond hair poked out from the eye holes of his ski mask. He looked amused, and he smelled like he had never even heard of a shower.

  
“Oh shit.” The boy said, circling around Sasuke. “You’re one of those Uchiha boys, aren’t you?”

  
He poked Sasuke in the back like he wanted to make sure he was real. Sasuke swatted at him and spun around to face the stranger yet again, who seemed beyond amused at how frustrated Sasuke was getting.

  
“I’ve seen your baby pictures.” The boy burst out laughing, his snorting roaring between them too loudly, his wide mouth showing a few teeth that either had been knocked out or hadn’t grown in yet.

  
Sasuke shoved him hard enough to knock him to the ground. “Those are personal!” The boy fell to the ground, his bat skittering away. Sasuke climbed on top of him and lifted him up by his jacket. “You don’t have any right to look at those!”

  
The boy lifted his legs and kicked at Sasuke’s shins, shaking himself free. He turned and scrambled for his bat but Sasuke grabbed and dragged him away and out the door, the whole time the boy was screeching and kicked but Sasuke was bigger and the boy seemed to weigh exactly one pound. Once they were out the front door Sasuke dragged him through the gravel a few feet until the boy picked up a small rock and threw it at Sasuke, hitting him the head. He fell back and the two, now on even ground, huffed to gather their breaths.

  
“What the fuck is wrong with you, you’re insane!” The boy shouted.

  
“Me? You’re the one who just jumped off a ledge and threatened me with a bat!”

  
“What was I supposed to do, you and those other kids are walking around my house!”

  
“_Your_ house? You just said you know my family used to live here! I come here all the time and I’ve never seen you around here before!”

  
“Yeah well I just moved in!”

  
“You can’t _move_ _in_ that’s trespassing!”

  
The boy must’ve known there wasn’t and argument for that, as he huffed and rubbed his eyes. Sasuke took a good look at him, despite not being able to see his face he could tell a lot about him: his hands were dirty and and his knuckles were scuffed, his knees were bleeding and he was far too skinny for a boy his age. He was short, too - he just seemed far too small but he still couldn’t have been more than sixteen.

  
Sasuke struggling to his feet. “Who even are you?”

  
“My name is Naruto Uzumaki!” The boy yelled, hopping to his feet, once again getting too close to Sasuke. He turned around and pointed his thumbs to his back where his last name a lazily spray painted over his shoulder blades.

  
_Uzumaki_, Sasuke thought, _that name sounded familiar_. He couldn't put his finger on it, but this kid seemed familiar. His voice, his wierdly distinct eyes. But he couldn't see his face because of that stupid Ski Mask - probably the point. But he couldn't drop it and it would bother him for the rest of the day.

"So, Naruto," Sasuke said his name in a mocking tone, "please leave my house."

  
Sasuke shoved him away.

  
“I won't - I can't.” Naruto said under his breath, crossing his arms and avoiding eye contact.

"Did your parents kick you out or something?" Sasuke pressed, hoping to get a response so that he could use it to get Naruto to go back to wherever he came from and far away from here. He'd even be willing to help him, get a bus or whatever he needed, anything to get him to leave.

  
"No, I don't have - " Naruto looked down at his feet, cutting himself off, shuffling with his weapon like it was hem of his skirt. “I just can’t go back.”

  
“Why...” Sasuke asked hesitantly.

  
“Look, it’s - foster care isn’t fun, alright? That’s all.” Naruto kept looking down at his dirty bare feet, wiggling is toes. 

  
Sasuke ran his hands through his hair, getting more stressed by the minute. “Well it’s not really about being fun it’s about not being in my house - “

  
“You don’t live here anymore, what does it matter?”

  
“It just does! Ok-" Sasuke rubbed his eyes in frustration. It was obviously going to take some effort to get Naruto out of here. “I’ll give you until the end of the month to decide where to go but if you’re not gone I’ll call the police and tell them you’re here.”

  
Naruto gasped, pursing his lips. He seemed to be struggling with what to do next, feeling trapped and scared. “That’s so mean.”

  
"I think it's pretty fair, considering this is still my house." Sasuke kicked some of the trash around. “Maybe clean up after yourself a little. The end of the month.”

  
Sasuke backed out of the room, pointing at the confused Naruto watching him go, scuffling down the hall and grabbing his backpack before heading out of the door and beginning the walk back through the dead forest. As he walked, from the doorway of his mansion, Naruto watched, waiting for his outline so vanish down the horizon before he began to actively panic.

  
Sasuke came out of the trees and eventually found the edge of the road again. On the dirt curb were his friends, sitting quietly and biting their nails. When Ino saw sasuke she jumped up and squealed, running to him and throwing herself over his shoulders. Everyone else stood and ran to stand around him.

  
“Are you ok Sasuke? Are you hurt?” Ino dotted, brushing the dust off his jean jacket.

  
“Get off him you’re crowding him.” Sakura said, tugging Ino off him. “Oh my god Sasuke you’re bleeding.”

  
Sasuke pressed his hand to the growing bruise on his forehead where Naruto had thrown a rock at him, it was bleeding slightly.

  
“What happened?” Lee pressed. “Who was that person?”

  
“Don’t worry about it.” Sasuke said, shoving everyone off him. “It was just a ghost.”


End file.
